NFL Ratings Continue To Tumble In The Wake Of National Anthem Protests

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The NFL continues to struggle in the ratings department.

Viewers are tuning out, and many in the media are reaching for answers.

But the polls show a big reason why Americans are turning off their TV’s on Sunday afternoons.

Week Five in the NFL saw another poor showing in their ratings.

Ratings for the 1pm Sunday broadcast window was down 4% from 2015.

The Sunday Night Football broadcast on NBC – the crown jewel of the league’s TV package – plunged 38% from 2015’s matchup and 40% from 2014.

It was the lowest rated Sunday Night broadcast since 2011.

And while many are blaming the poor ratings on the Presidential election, this week’s game was even lower rated than the game which aired at the same time as the second Presidential debate.

The ratings debacle continued with the Monday Night Football game, which was the second least watched game in the history of Monday Night Football.

The ratings were down 40% from 2015 and 34% from 2014.

There have been seven Monday Night Football broadcasts this year, and each game has reached multi-year lows with the 18-49 year-old demographic advertisers covet.

Even the good news for the league – that the late double-header game on Fox saw a 9% bump in the ratings for a marquee matchup featuring the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers –was tempered by the earlier double-header game between the big market Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins, which plummeted 28% from 2015.

Some media pundits are searching for answers.

But they continually avoid the obvious explanation – fans are sick of radical leftists hijacking their Sunday afternoons.

The protests during the national anthem began when 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat during the Star Spangled Banner at a preseason game.

He began taking a knee during the regular season.

His protests have now spread across the league, as other players have either knelt or raised fists in a gesture of black power.

NFL fans – who are patriotic Americans – were used to games being an escape from politics.

But the left’s desire to politicize everything meant the NFL soon fell victim to this trend, too.

It did not help matters when the league backed up the players disrespecting America and the American flag.

Fans saw spineless league suits afraid to court controversy from a liberal media that has targeted the league for shame in recent years.

As a result, these fed-up fans switched the channel.

A recent Rasmussen poll found 32% of all Americans said the protests made them less likely to watch the games.

Just 13% said it made them more likely to tune into NFL action.

For the media pundits who are blaming politics for the NFL’s declining ratings, they are correct.

But maybe it’s not the Presidential election drawing viewers away from the league.